Quote Originally Posted by Ramulux
.....I have this crazy, radical, idea that maybe human beings should help other human beings who are in need of help.
there's nothing crazy or particularly radical about the idea of charity. charity is one of the few ways for the ordinary man to become truly great, but we must realize that it is charity and not some debt whose payment should be forced from us at gunpoint. the usurious taxation of those who do succeed for the sake of those who do not is just that, forced charity under the threat of violence and incarceration. it is theft under color of authority.

I think a lot of the people who have posted on this thread would benefit greatly by simply having conversations with people who are on the bottom rung of the economic ladder. It might give you some perspective on what it is like to be poor in this country.
guess what, i've been there and i know it ain't no bed of roses. i've been dirt poor and homeless in an uncaring world and, sure, i bitched about it, but i didn't blame the rich or begrudge them their pleasures and i didn't go crying to big brother for handout after handout so i could afford even the most meager of luxuries. i worked those 80 hour weeks and 90 hour weeks and even 100 hour weeks and i continue to do so when i can because i want a few of those luxuries i would like to become accustomed to. i keep a tenuous grasp on being middle class by working that much because i know it can all disappear so quickly.

as a matter of fact, it is disappearing. thanks to the threat posed to the upper middle class and upper class by fools like obama and pelosi, work has started to get a bit scarcer and i find myself dipping into my meager savings as my once thriving little business begins to slightly flounder. the socialist bent of the present regime and this country's seeming willingness to share the wealth through legislation instead of a free marketplace have tightened everyone's purse strings and can do nothing more than force the small businessman to close up shop and either go back to being a wage slave or become the indentured servant of the government's self serving welfare state.

as long as we retain the freedom of choice, even poverty may be bearable. without it, no amount of wealth will satisfy.